Random Stuff

Some random photos from the past couple of weeks.

I love the smell of freshly baked bread, wish I could include it in this blog post. I let the bread machine do all the mixing then I bake the dough in the oven. This bread has a mixture of white and wholewheat flour, oats, chia seeds, flax, bran, and pumpkin seeds. My grandson said it was "so soft that a baby could eat it".

I gatecrashed a wedding last week.... yes, I said gatecrashed. YoungerSon's best friend was tying the knot and YoungerSon and his Bride couldn't be at the ceremony, only at the after-party, so I showed up instead, along with the mum of the best man. It was at the historic Enoch Turner School House in downtown Toronto. Photo taken before most of the guests arrived.

The new Mr and Mrs signing the register. I cried of course. I always cry at weddings and everyone laughs at me. But I've been fond of this young man ever since the kids were all young, and he deserves to be happy.

Fireworks at Markham Fair at the end of September. The camera has a firework setting and I hadn't used it before. Not bad eh?

Finally, a visit to the cardiac doctor in Newmarket. This is the view from his office window looking west along Davis Drive, snapped while I was waiting for the doc to arrive. The brown traffic lanes along the centre are for buses only.

Random This Week

Summer is coming to an end. It's been a "Back to School" week. My grandies all have new teachers who they seem to like. My Thursday Art Group is starting up again, Tuesday Line Dancing is back. It's still warm and sunny during the day, but nights are definitely chillier.

 A stunning sunset reflecting on storm clouds and a flock of Canada geese flying back to the pond where they roost for the night.

Here's Spidey: A huge spider (a bit out of focus, sorry!) who has been living on my geraniums for the past couple of weeks. It's been fascinating watching him (or her) repair the web each morning and every time an unfortunate fly or insect gets caught, he scurries over to the victim and wraps it up in spider web to save for dinner later.

A handmade quilt quoting the words of our national anthem, "O CANADA", by Canadian filmmaker and artist Joyce Weiland.  I saw many pieces of her work exhibited at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in the picturesque little town of Kleinberg, Ontario.

And the view from one of the windows at the McMichael. A painting in itself! The gallery is situated in ten acres of scenic wooded land with public trails through the trees. The building itself started as a four room log house built with salvaged pioneer hand hewn logs, but has since been enlarged, housing an extensive collection of Canadian art, including many works by the Group of Seven.

Stuff Sorted

I've been a really bad blogger recently, no excuses, I know. January and February weather does that to me. It has been a surprisingly mild winter, with not even one huge blogworthy snowstorm. And I haven't been to Florida, or Arizona, or anywhere hot to get away from Old Man Winter. But tonight the clocks "Spring Forward", the evenings will be longer and signs of Spring will start to appear. Hooray!

Stuff Sorted over the past few weeks:

1. YoungerSon, my techie genius, helped me change my internet provider to one that gives me 6 times more download room than I had before, and for a much lesser price. And he also set up getting rid of my expensive phone land line and connecting an internet phone. So far it's worked perfectly...... fingers crossed.
2. Finished making a multicolour baby/toddler quilt for a baby expected on May 1. No, not my family, but very dear friends are becoming grandparents for the first time. So exciting.
   
3. While I was in the sewing mood, I cut multicolour strips of leftover cotton quilting fabric, and started making another toddler quilt. Stay tuned for pictures.
4. Set up a weekly "Dinner Date" with the grandies who live just down the road from me. The 3 of them are always together, so they take it in turns once a week to come to Nana's house for dinner after school. It's good to have some one-on-one time with each of them, and they can't wait until it is their turn. Last week it was Isaac (6). Dinner was sausage, egg, chips (that's French Fries to the non-Brits) and Heinz baked beans (has to be the one with the green label) and ketchup.... mmmm gourmet dining.
5. Our Art Group has been asked to display paintings at the Town Offices.... there are about 30 paintings exhibited until March 31. The moo-cows are mine.
   
   
   
6. Grandie Callum celebrated being 8 years old by inviting 14 6 to 8 year olds to Laser Lounge for 2 games of laser tag. It was mayhem!  Warriors are divided into a red team and a green team, outfitted with vests with flashing lights in the appropriate colour, and given laser guns, and the battle is on! The battle ground is filled with smoke so the laser rays can be seen, and parents can watch through the window.... looked like so much fun creeping around shooting people that next time I want to play too. The kids ended up red faced and sweaty, but still had enough energy to consume 8 large pizzas and birthday cake in the shape of a Star Wars robot. 
7. Birthday parties weren't anything like that when I was 8.

Here kitty, kitty.....

I've heard of a junk yard dog, but never a cat. Can you find the black and white kitty on the junk pile?


Photo borrowed from somewhere on the internet.
See the comments for a hint!

January so far....

2016 already? Weren't we in the throes of frantic preparation for the horrors of Y2K just a couple of years ago? Or do I say that every year? Hmmm... Must be getting old.

So far January has been pretty good. Mild weather up till just after Christmas then the temperature plunged. We welcomed the New Year in Mayoral style.... see previous post. Today it's been snowing, but the sun is managing to break through.

Ice hockey practice has started again for grandies Isaac and Callum. My only girl grandie Emma started dance lessons! She looks so sweet in her pink tights. Grandie Max is happy to watch from the sidelines at the moment, but the time will come when he will want to be in an organised activity too. They are all growing up. As they should.

My Art Group has started up again after the Christmas break. We meet to paint, draw, create, and chat every Thursday in a nearby Community Hall. Next week we have a guest artist giving a workshop in watercolour paints, which I have never used, so I'll post whatever I create, good or bad.... stay tuned!

I've been baking bread. First was this:

Ooops, looks like a creature from Outer Space. Must have put the dough balls too close together! Then this:

Mmmm... nothing like fresh bread for breakfast with some home made raspberry jam.

I went to a Zentangle demo put on by the Epilepsy Association. Apparently Zentangle (which is concentrated structured doodling) is very useful to relax epilepsy patients if they feel an attack is imminent.

Drawing Zentangles can also alleviate pain, grief, stress, good for Alzheimers patients too.... and it's fun! Here's my result.

Great for wasting time.... but being creative is never time wasted, is it!

Hot Dog Delight.

Thirsty? Woof! Woof!

Seen on the sidewalk on a warm sunny day outside a store in posh Niagara-on-the-Lake..... for the discerning thirsty doggie who considers himself a cut above the rest. There's even a bouquet of flowers!

Happenings...

I lost my blogging ambition for a couple of weeks, lots of reasons. Did you miss me? Hmmm... I thought not.
Reason One: the weather has been so cold. We even had SNOW on the ground two days ago. I thought this was spring! I know I don't have to write my blog outside, but somehow the really un-springlike weather completely brought me to a standstill.
Reason Two: I was sewing, and once I get the sewing machine warmed up I have to finish. I made a pretty summer dress for my only granddaughter, the beauteous Emma, and made a funky Tshirt for me, made from 4 recycled Tshirts from the Sally Ann Thrift Shop. Oh this is such a bad picture.

Reason Three: Some surgery. Parathyroidectomy. Sounds very impressive, doesn't it. Just one night in hospital, lots of TLC from the nurses on the 11th floor and the hospital food was surprisingly edible. Home the next day, feeling great now. I was in Toronto for a follow-up appointment at the hospital so I took my camera along.

Toronto City Hall. Designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell and built in 1965. Home of Toronto City Council..... and former home of notorious Toronto ex-Mayor Rob Ford... remember him?

The Countdown Clock for the Pan Am Games to be held in Toronto July 10 -26 2015.

The CN Tower was completed in 1976 becoming the World's tallest tower... but lost that title in 2010. It's now the 3rd tallest. The light on top of the weather beacon on the Canada Life building glows red for rain, green for fine and white for snow, and the lights on the actual pylon scroll up or down according to the forecast temperature. Clever.

The Red Rocket ... one of Toronto's many streetcars, 248 of them in fact. 

Outside the law courts.... the lion and the lamb. Every Individual is Equal Before and Under the Law and has the Right to the Equal Protection and Equal Benefit of the Law without Discrimination.

This 'n' That 'n' t'Other

I think Canadian Spring might be just around the corner here in the Great White North. We actually had two back-to-back sunny days, but it's back to cold weather again today.
I took TessaDog for a run in the forest last weekend, but it was too icy to go far. I'm afraid of falling and nobody finding me for a week. I'd have to eat the dog to survive! YoungerSon wouldn't like that.

Just a few more of those glorious sunny days and this view will change to green instead of white.

Auction Sale season has started. Every year there's an interesting Good Friday sale at the local Community Hall, so I went along to do some people watching (always a good sport) and to see what was on offer. I bid on a few things, but didn't actually part with any money, prices were too high, and there was nothing that I really needed.

A carved totem or symbolic mask from the West coast, possibly Haida. It sold for $750.00.

The auctioneer has a contact in the Persian carpet business, and always has a large number of carpets and rugs on offer at the auctions. The large ones go quite cheaply, as nobody has room for a 30' x 20' rug, and carpets with a big pattern aren't fashionable any more.

This one sold for just over $200.00. Listed price was over $1500.00. A bargain for someone.

These sweet little 1950s Dutch dolls sold for only $12.50. I was tempted, but do I really need dolls? After they were sold, I wished I had bid on them..... but then I saw sense and was happy I didn't. Indecision, indecision. 

Browsing at the local Care and Share junk charity shop, I noticed this shoe box up on a high shelf. Chandler is one of my family names (my mother's maiden name) so I was instantly interested. I wonder if these Chandlers are long lost relatives? And do their shoe shops still exist? According to the box lid they had addresses and stores all across the USA.

The town of Ilfracombe in North Devon (England) is where I spent some of my school days, and two new state of the art web cams have been installed looking at the harbour. I can spend quite some time just watching the people and the boats. If you see a large blue and white boat tied up at the dock, it's the MS Oldenburg, the ferry to the island of Lundy. The web cam is here, well worth a look. You'll also see a view on Cam2 of Rapparee Beach, the site of a disastrous shipwreck in 1796 and also a fistfight in 1878 with the Crown Prince of Germany who apparently was a bit of a twerp.

I've been painting again. The colours haven't photographed well in this photo. A bit fuzzy.

That's all folks..... until next time!     Happy Easter.

Wot I Bin Up To

I seem to have been missing from Blogland for the past couple of weeks. Did you miss me? No? oh, well....

I haven't been anywhere exciting, or done anything really blogworthy, just living life as it comes along I suppose. Which is what most people do.

I've been baking bread....

... and last week my former clock repairing neighbour paid me a visit to have a look at William's movement.... William refuses to tick. He got William started, but the clock won't run for more than 20 minutes, and now he won't tick at all. I'm hoping for a return visit from my neighbour. He told me his father was a clockmaker and he grew up in a house with 60 clocks!

Rehearsals are in full swing for the annual Christmas Variety Show. This is the third Christmas we've put on this kind of event at our local theatre.

 I've been making props for the Blacklite version of The Nutcracker.... here's my Sugar Plum Fairy.

 And of course I've been spending plenty of time looking after these naughty little people.....

 ... and tickling these.

 Aren't I lucky?

Sum Math 4 U

Take the last two digits of your year of birth, add the age that you will be this year on your 2011 birthday, and the result will be 111.... but as always, there are a couple of exceptions to the rule.

This only works if you were born between 1900 - 1999, that includes most of us, but for kids born in 2000 or later, the result will be 11, and for the real oldies out there.... if you were born between 1800 - 1899, your result will be 211.

Don't ask me how it works, I'm clueless, I scraped by my math exams by the skin of my teeth.

What I've Been Up To

I haven't been a very good blogger over the past couple of months.
And I have a really good excuse.
I've been house hunting. I've looked at big, small, old, new, detached, semi-detached, town houses, condos.
But I've finally got myself a new home and I move in a couple of weeks.
So now I'm doing this.

And this.

And since I last posted, this happened. Yes, I had a birthday. A significant one too. I can't imagine how I got to be this old (not telling just HOW old) but it's better than the alternative!

So the whole family got together and we went for a birthday dinner at the Mandarin Chinese Buffet. Mmmm... buffet style Chinese food, and if that doesn't suit you, there's pizza, or roast beef, or spare ribs or sushi.... I love the baked salmon and the spicy shrimp, and the hot and sour soup, and the mango salad... it's all so good!
And then home for a cuppa and fancy birthday cupcakes.
And finally both my grandboys. It's hard to get a picture of them both at the same time, they move so fast.

We've had a couple of new family additions in UK recently. William (baby brother to Oliver) arrived 4 weeks ago and baby Charlie arrived last week, cousins to each other and new second cousins for Callum and Isaac. That makes 5 little boys born in the last 3 years in our family.
And in The Bride's family there are 4 more little boys all under 4 years old.

We're aiming for our very own football team!

T-Shirt Troubles?

Have you ever struggled with a T-shirt trying to get those folds perfect? Your troubles are over. This is brilliant!



Or if following instructions in Japanese confuses you, the English version is here.

In Recovery

I've been really sick.
Well.... not me exactly.... but my computer.
Somehow I got a virus plus I deleted stuff I don't think I should have deleted in my frenzy to make the computer work and I lost my internet connection.
This was a really bad time to be disconnected from the rest of the world as it's only two weeks to the annual Variety Show, I'm in the midst of planning a kitchen renovation, and I just bought a new car, and on top of everything, it's Income Tax Time! More about all that later.... this is just to let you know I'm back in blogland!

Staying Safe

During the cold Canadian winter it's common to read about carbon monoxide leaks. This family escaped with their lives, many others are not so lucky.

My basement contains three natural gas fired pieces of equipment: the furnace, the water heater and a fireplace, and there's another gas fireplace on the main floor, so I bought two of these CO detectors, one for the basement and one for upstairs.

They plug into the wall, and contain a rechargeable backup battery in case of power failure. CO is colourless, tasteless, odorless and a silent killer, so I wanted to be sure.

Plus I installed new batteries in each of my smoke detectors on January 2, one on each floor. I do this every January.
I urge everyone to do the same. Don't wake up dead one morning!

Byebye 2008, Hello 2009.

Only one more day until I can wave goodbye to 2008. So many good things to look back on.... performing in our local Variety Show in April, a trip to England in June, and a vacation in Florida in October.

For me, the highlight of 2008 was the birth of my gorgeous grandson, Callum, in February.

But 2008 hasn't been good to everyone. Lost jobs, shrinking savings, stock market fraud, failed mortgages, reposessed homes. War in Iraq, war in Afghanistan. Lets hope 2009 is more hopeful.

I'm welcoming the New Year with open arms. Why? Lots of reasons.

• The annual Robbie Burns Supper in January. I'm on the potato peeling team again.
• Watching Callum learn and grow. He'll have his first birthday in February. Should it be chocolate cake or vanilla?
• Our 49th Music Mania Variety Show at the end of April. I'm Co-Producer this year.
• Learning to enjoy living on my own. The Space Cadet is no more. In orbit somewhere.
• More travel... I haven't decided where yet.
• 2009 is the year of decluttering the house. More on this ambitious enterprise later in the year.
• And the best of all..... another grandchild is on the way! YoungerSon and The Bride are expecting a brand new family member in May. Whoopee! Just call me Nana x 2.

May 2009 provide good health, happiness and fulfillment to all of you out there in Blogland!

E for Excellent

Xtreme English has included me in her list of blogs that deserve the Big E for Excellent. Wow! I hope she doesn't regret it later.

I'm told that part of the responsibilities of a new awardee is to nominate 10 other blogs as Excellent, and each of them must then select 10 others.

This is a hard one... many more than 10 worthwhile bloggers out there, and they all deserve a read.

OK... let's get cracking...

Lettuce lives in South London. Her blog is full of unusual pictures and she writes with a quirky turn of phrase. She notices what others miss. Her idea of a good day out is to visit Art Galleries. And Museums. And she is inspired with what she finds there. I look forward to her posts.

The Ginger Darlings live on the coast of wild Wales. "Three cats of perfect gingerness, elegant, feline, sharp clawed and fine." Eloquent descriptions of their adventures, roaming the hills with their artist companion. I adore ginger cats.

Combe Martin Life is all about the goings-on in the village in England where I grew up. Martin is a bit of a nutter, but he takes fab piccies. Sorry, Martin, but you know it's true!

Pea Soup hails from Melbourne, Australia. She loves fabric and yarn and Australia and her family. But not necessarily in that order. She can teach you to dye wool with food colouring and knows how to knit fruit. Yes, that's what I said... knit fruit. No kidding.

Peter is a newly retired Swede living in Paris. I think he knows more about the history and geography of the streets and boulevards of Paris than anyone. If you are planning a trip to Paris, read his blog first! Peter already has a Big E for Excellent Award, but he definitely deserves another... you just can't have too many! Merci, Peter.

Ming the Merciless knows New York City like the back of his hand... right, Ming? He'll take you to the most interesting shops, ride with you on the subway, cross the Brooklyn Bridge, walk with you in the park, and you'll meet all the neighbourhood dogs. And Ming doesn't cook, so he knows all the best places to eat and drink.

Willow Grace aka Mad blogs in the San Francisco Bay area. She's the creative sort... photography, scrapbooking, stamping, all kinds of arts and crafts. And she sounds like she's lots of fun.

Wiggers World is the brainchild of Tom Wigley, aka Old Wom Tigley. Tom's someone who appreciates Nature and has a innate sense of belonging to the world around him. He and his sidekick friend Peter Parrott roam the countryside around Hyde, Cheshire, and come up with some stunning wildlife photos and stories about the countryside.

that's 9.... one more to go.

Pete at Midway is a young man on Midway Atoll in the Pacific on a 6 month temporary job with the US Fish & Wildlife Service, trying to rid the island of a wild sunflower plant called verbesina. He also counts birds, swims, plays volleyball and takes great seabird pics. Sounds like he's having a blast.

Misleading the Consumer - Cuppa Tea, Anyone?

Doesn't this look delicious? Green tea with juicy Mandarin Orange segments.... just imagine yourself relaxing with a good book and a cup of this steaming hot tea, aromatic with the fragrance of mandarin oranges
Mmmmm....
And it comes in a pyramid shaped teabag too.... Pyramid Power for the People!

But if you look closely at the small print ingredients, you'll see that somebody forgot to put the mandarin oranges in. The "real pieces of fruit" (to quote the bilingual product blurb) are mango, peach and apricot. Not a mandarin within miles.

Plus it contains SUGAR! Can't we be trusted to put our own sugar in?

Huh?

Now, I agree that the label doesn't exactly claim that it contains Mandarin Orange, but when the front of the box states "real pieces of fruit" next to a picture of six juicy orange segments, don't you think the average consumer might jump to the conclusion that this product could have encountered at least one teeny weeny segment of orange during it's manufacture?

But no, sadly just another example of manufacturers misleading the consumer with devious advertising.

I called the 1-800 number on the package. I spoke to a very polite and apologetic lady at Lipton's who said she would convey my concerns to the appropriate department, and offered me coupons for more of the product.

Very kind of you, Mr Lipton, but no thanks.

Going to Church tomorrow?

Church authorities removed this sign after they received complaints from the community. A little bit of bad judgement , I think.
Photo "borrowed" from the Toronto Star.

Random Thoughts

• This morning I summoned up the courage to clean out the cupboard under the kitchen sink. Where do all those containers of assorted cleaners come from, and who puts them away after only a couple of squirts?
• Then I cleaned out the cupboard under the bathroom vanity. More containers missing only one squirt. Intriguing.
• It couldn't possibly be me doing that, could it?
• Less than a month to go now to The Wedding. I'm getting nervous.
• Should I wear my "Camilla Wedding Hat"? Will anyone else be wearing hats?
• Why am I worrying about anyone else wearing hats???? Just wear it and look stunning!!
• The clock on my blog always points to 12 noon. It annoys me. I can't change it. Why? Clock update Sept 15... it seems to have healed itself and is now telling the right time!
• And in fact I can't make any customising changes to my blog. Again, why?
• This gorgeous fellow was on my screen door this morning. Isn't he beautiful?

• And this tiny turtle was slowly crossing the bike path at the reservoir. The Space Cadet's Boy Scout training kicked in and he saved the little chap's life by helping him to the other side. YAY Space Cadet!!! (That's his finger in the pic.)